I have heard of power shifting before, but how is this done. Any info will be appreciated.

Chris

 

It's very simple.
You just shift around to the left or right. Your choice.
Grab your wallet, open it and throw all your money into the wind.
Just joking!!
:lol: :lol:

I'm SURE to get flamed for this but here goes;
Repeat after me:

I WON'T BEAT ON WIFE AND I WON'T BEAT ON MY VETTE.

Seriously, be WELL prepared to purchase a few clutch disc and pressure plates along the way and a few transmission syncronizer rings.

There's a lot of guys on here that do this and do it well.
I'd bet my bippies they didn't learn how on their Z06s.
My advice? Don't learn how to do this on your Z06. Get yourself an old beater Honda or Toyota to learn on.

That's just MHO btw.

 

Power shifting is the art of shifting without lifting the throttle.....basically, and is very hard on your drivetrain if not executed to perfection.....which is amost never.......I still granny shift (lift throttle, push in clutch) but I do it very quickly and maybe lose a tenth as opposed to powershifting...........so you have to decide, is one tenth in the 1/4 mile worth busting your tranny if you miss a shift?.....you make the call

 

Good advise Jim. I powershift if the track is hooking (stock tires), and in answer to the ? it is done by keeping the go pedal planted to the floor all the way from 1-4 without lifting. I WOULD NOT practice this on a Vette, but since I have been driving and racing manual tranny's for over 30 years I have it kinda down pat :)

Les

 

As noted, keep the loud pedal on the floor during your shifts. Stab the clutch during the shift .. just enough to change gears .. The whole idea is to get from gear to gear as quickly as possible and without dropping the rpms. All this is done, of course, to keep the engine as high as possible in it's power/torque band.

This is not necessarily terribly hard on the car, although you can potentially hurt things if you screw up badly enough. Missing a shift is not too bad, because the rev limiter will save your butt. Accidentally shifting to a lower gear, however ... like trying to hit 5th and accidentally hitting 3rd will probably bend your pushrods.

Unless you're racing, there's not much reason to do this. In the heat of battle, however, I end up powershifting instinctually.

 

What you're all forgetting to mention is the actual mechanics of the shift....

1-throttle flat on floor, don't lift

2-pull (or push, depending on if you're going for 3rd) on the shifter very hard BEFORE you need to shift. You MUST preload the shifter in this way. Don't worry, it won't come out of gear...the torque loading on the gears won't let it.

3-when you reach your shift point, stab the clutch "in-out" very quickly and "violently". Some guys use the term "bump the clutch", and that's a good way to think of it. By stabing the clutch, it unloads the gears (actually, the synchronizers) and allows your preloaded shifter to slam to the next gear.

This *preload-stab-shift* is a bit scary to learn on your own, expensive tranny. I agree, learning on some old Toyota gives you the confidence to try it on more powerful machinery.

For 3rd gear, you have to get it in your mind to simply push the shifter forward and only a little to the right. Don't TRY to go across the shifter gate, as this will only slow the shift and may cause the shifter to hang between 2 and 3. An aftermarket shifter (Hurst, Ripper) will hopefully go across the gate and go into 3 and not 1st.

I just got in from some powershifting practice. 1-2 is easy, but the revs come up fast. 2-3 is a bit scary, but works with a Hurst. And I powered the 3-4 shift for the first time ever in one of my C5s, and this worked good, too.

Powershifting is not for the faint-of-heart, so if all this mechanical mayhem gives you a bit of anexiety, you're not alone.

It has always scared me, too, but it's worth several tenths at the dragstrip. :D

 

Thanks to all for all the info.
I wanted to learn how to do this on my Toyota pickup. I know it doesn't compare to a Z in power, so I just wanted to at least get the feeling down on a POS in which I don't care what happens to the truck. Again, thanks for all the info. :seeya

 

I have a Toyota Solara V6 5-speed and I do power shift it. Thing is the Toyota transmission is not that great in the syncro department. It grinds the gears, even when it was new.
Honda, for example, makes a better tranny for power shifting in my view. So if someone goes to practice power shifting on a Toyota, like mine anyway, it may grind even if the shift is done flawlessly.

 

PowerShifting can be done all the way's mentiond but here is my .02 I NEVER put pressure on the shifter before the shift and I allway's put the clutch through it's full ark all the way to the floor. You should prectice with the car off and sitting still. When I am trying for faster shifts I use my whole body,the motion to move the shifter; starts at the lower back sholder acceleration then arm speed just like throwing a ball hard, if timed right the motion hits the shifter with the clutch most of the way in. As far as the clutch I am moveing it about as fast as I can in and out but I do vary it's speed, most of the time my foot is just above it and I press it in and out as quickly as possible but if I am trying for an on the edge run I have my foot well above the pettle and accelerate my leg down very fast and hard and turn up the speed of the shifter to match. When your practiceing in the drive way you will see to do this your useing your right leg pressed to the flore to hold your butt in place so you can be makeing the pivots I mentiond. Easer to show than write these movement's and timeing of them. Ric

 

A warning about power shifting.

If this is done correctly and very quickly on a less than sticky road surface, you may smoke the rears at higher speed than you might expect. If not handled carefully, it can lead to some handling excursions that increase the pucker factor in a heartbeat. DON'T LIFT SUDDENLY, unless you want a panoramic view of the countryside.